You'd Be Surprised
by msmtchedscks
Summary: Set during 5.02, Mark can tell that Callie needs a friend so he offers up Lexie. Chapter One up.


title: You'd be Surprised

characters: Callie, Mark, and Lexie, with others

rating: 14A, mainly for some iffy language

word count:

summary: Set during 5.02, Mark can tell that Callie needs a friend so he offers up Lexie.

disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy is not mine. Not even a little bit. I have no word as to how the show is played out. I can only hope, therefore I write. This is fan fiction. As in fake. Wishful thinking, really.

author's note: First fiction here, so give me some time to get better. Thanks!

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After George died, Callie didn't know when she were going to be able to breathe properly again, let alone laugh. But eventually she did. She did breathe, and it felt more like she was inhaling water than oxygen, but after a moment of struggling, it regulated. Then when she laughed again, really honestly laughed, it caught her off guard, as though she had forgotten her face could stretch that much and her eyes could fill with such happiness, but it happened.

Moving to Mercy West had been an adventure, a difficult, challenging, but ultimately great adventure. Having the responsibility and respect of being an Attending was worth the change, even when she would try and find Mark in the cafeteria, Arizona in an on call room, or go to the nurses' station to hear if there was any good gossip going around. But she quickly found that Mark and Arizona were nowhere near, and Mercy West nurses didn't know how to gossip. At all. Either that, or they seemed to love keeping it from the new attending.

Then when her sweet girlfriend advised her to come back to Seattle Grace before the merging madness, Callie know that she's right, even if the whole grovelling for a job and possibly being turned down has her wanting to run all the way to Portland. And yet, she did ask for her job back, well sort of. And it worked. It wasn't how she thought it was going to be, but it worked out.

Then when her father came back and shook up her world once more, it felt like her air had turned to water. He had tried to pray the gayness away and Arizona had tried to help, tried to reason with her, but all it ended up doing was blowing up in her face. So for the rest of the day, she wasn't really herself. And Mark could tell. He knew.

"Callie? I know you're sad, and I know Arizona is going to be in the hospital all night, but spending the evening alone in your apartment is not going to help, neither is drinking at Joe's for another long night or talking to Cristina. She's Cristina for God's sake. So you're going to come over to our condo and you, Lexie and I are going to watch a movie." He told her, his hand lingering above her shoulder, before it fell gently, in an act of comfort.

"Our condo? Damn it Mark, when did you become so domesticated." She responded, not wanting to appear as sad as she felt.

"Shut up, and come over for seven. Lexie's excited to have someone come over."

"Of course she is." She muttered, returning her gaze to the chart in her hands.

"Cal?" He asked, taking her attention away from a Jane Doe's chart back to him. His face is hard to read, a mix of uncertainty, and something else. She managed to raise a single eyebrow before responding.

"Yeah...?"

"Thanks." He said softly, as he caught Lexie's eyes from across the hall and gave her a thumbs up. Callie didn't even have to look at her to know that she was beaming. Lexie Grey was almost always beaming, which was a good thing, in Callie's mind, but could be a tad annoying when her world seemed to be crashing down. She watched after him as he left, mumbling under her breath.

"Fuck, you're whipped." Is the only comment audible enough for the blonde nurse to overhear.

--

After finishing a routine surgery, Callie quickly saw the clock staring at her, telling her that she was already fifteen minutes late for meeting up with the happy couple. Groaning, she quickly made her way to the Attending lockers, had a fast shower, changed into the clothes she brought, and tied her hair in a messy bun. Dashing out the hospital, she made very little time in going to her apartment building, their apartment building, and knocking on Mark and Lexie's door. When she heard some sort of encouragement, she opened the door and smiled hesitantly.

"So, umm hi." Was all she could come up with, seeing Lexie perched on Mark's lap, snuggling into his arms. When Lexie spotted her, she jumped off of Mark, and glanced at the large pile of movies on the floor to Callie, lingering by the door.

"Callie! We decided to wait for you until we figured out what movie we wanted to watch. There are a lot, a lot of Mark's and mine... and some we borrowed from friends. And there are a lot of choices. So we also have popcorn and fruit and chocolate... and shit ...where's the alcohol?" She exclaimed, in her chirpy sing-song voice, going through the movies and putting them in different piles. After looking at them, Callie could only assume she was making a her pile, a Mark pile, and a borrowed pile from the titles being assigned to each other.

"Alcohol?" She repeated, perking up a tiny bit, glancing from Lexie on the floor, to Mark sitting happily on the couch.

"Yep, it's a grown up movie night, Cal." He responded, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth, as she caught sight of two bottles of tequila, a bottle of vodka, as well as some kind of daiquiri mix that she was positive Lexie made, as it was bright pink and poured into two very girly cocktail glasses, complete with strawberries attached to the straws, and two umbrellas, just for good measure.

"Okay, but no Disney, or sappy chick flicks. I want adventure or horror or gore." Callie admitted, her smile slowly matching Mark's.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." He laughed; as Lexie turned her back to what must have been her pile, glancing at the other two, now putting them in different piles.

"Okay, so there goes all these... umm here, take a peek while I get the popcorn going." She announced, making her way to the kitchen, as she popped a bag of popcorn into the microwave. After a small awkward pause, Callie entered the room more, and found herself sitting at Mark Sloan's feet, rifling through the movies until she found a couple she wouldn't mind seeing, one of them being Mirrors. Mark nodded at the movie, as Lexie returned with a bowl filled with popcorn and a nervous expression.

--

Settling into the movie didn't prove as awkward as Callie had expected it to be, especially after her and Lexie decided to do a couple of tequila shooters before starting their girly drinks. Callie held back the urge to grimace as she took the first sip, not generally one for anything that pink, girly, or fruity, but licked her lips in approval. She smiled and laughed as Mark tried to sneak a sip of her drink, before she punched him in the arm. "This stuff is good. Get your own!"

"I can't. Lexie only made enough for you and her." He pouted, as Callie faked one back at him, glad that she had decided to spend the evening with them. She happily watched as Mark stuck out his bottom lip and wriggled his eyebrows at Lexie, obviously exclaiming just how much he would do for a bit of her drink. However, much to Callie's confusion she shook her head and laughed. "No way, Mark, it took ages to make. And like you said, it's for Callie and me!" Lexie replied, giving Callie a small wink, as Mark slung his shoulders and went to grab a beer.

When Mark finally put the movie in the player, and Lexie had all their food and drinks set onto the coffee table, Callie found herself sitting on one side of the couch, waiting for the other two to join her. Mark got to her first, slowly sliding into the spot next to her, as Lexie slid beside him. They sat there for a moment in the dark, Callie smiled and sipped her drink, Mark snuck casual glances at Lexie, who had already found a pillow to hide her face behind.

After a good few scenes, Lexie had managed to snuggle right into the crook of Mark's arm, and Callie had almost finished her whole fruity drink, too scared to let it down in case Mark drank it. Then, just as the movie made the scary noise that Callie loved so much, she heard a pager go off, and the three of them groaned. Lexie quickly grabbed the remote and paused the movie, seemingly relieved to put a pause to the scary film. The three of them each ran to where their kept their pager, until Callie heard Mark call from the bedroom.

"Shit. Its mine. 911, I have to go." He stated, as he entered the living room once again with a serious look on his face.

"Do you want us to wait up for you?" Lexie asked, joining Callie and him from the kitchen.

"No, it's probably going to go late. You two enjoy. Glad I didn't have any of your drink now. That stuff is strong, I can smell you both from here."

"Maybe I should head back, long day and all..." Callie started, faking a small yawn, trying to get out of a tricky situation.

"Cal, I'm making you stay. You need to be around people. And no, Cristina doesn't count!" Mark exclaimed before she could interrupt him.

"Fine. Alright, we can finish the movie, right Little Grey?" She asked, the drinks making her feel warmer to the small girl.

"Sure, don't worry Mark. We can schedule this another time. Girl's night tonight." Lexie decided, giving him a small kiss on the cheek, shier than Callie had thought her to be.

"Behave you two. No macking on my girl, Torres." Mark called before he pulled open the door, as Callie could have sworn she caught a flush rise to Lexie's cheek. Callie looked back at Mark and nodded, rolling her eyes at him.

"Sure thing." She called out, not even considering kissing Lexie. Well at least not until he brought it up, or until she saw the blush on Lexie's face. She bit her lower lip and gave Lexie a small smile, nodding back to the couch and the movie. Callie sat back down in her old seat, as Lexie sat where Mark had been, her hand shaking slightly before she pressed play.

As the movie progressed, Callie couldn't help but notice that watching Lexie watch the movie was far more entertaining than the movie itself. Whenever the scary music began to play, the younger girl would sneak the pillow in front of her face, and mumbled words she didn't expect to hear from her. And when something genuinely caught her off guard, Callie found it interesting to know that Lexie would always make a scrunched up nose face, before leaning farther into Callie for protection.

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